Government nominates Fennelly to be next Supreme Court Judge

The Government has nominated Mr Nial Fennelly SC to be appointed as a Supreme Court Judge by the President, replacing Mr Justice Henry Barron who retired last May.

From Kilkenny, Mr Fennelly was educated in Callan and at Clongowes Wood College, Co Kildare.

He did an MA in economics at UCD before studying at the King's Inns. Called to the Bar in 1964, Mr Fennelly worked for Coras Trachtala from 1964 to 1966. He started practice at the Bar, on the South Eastern Circuit, in 1966, until he became a senior counsel in 1978.

He was chairman of the Legal Aid Board from 1982 to 1989 when he resigned his post with another board member in protest at the way the State-funded civil legal aid service was supplied.

He was chairman of the Bar Council in 1990 and 1991.

Following the publication of the Fair Trade Commission's report which recommended major changes in the working practices of barristers and solicitors in July 1990, Mr Fennelly defended the integrity of the two professions as independent.

He was the first Irish person to serve as an Advocate General at the European Court of Justice. He is currently a director of the Irish Centre for European Law, a vice-president of the Irish Society for European Law and a member of the board of trustees of the Academy of European Law at Trier in Germany.

Meanwhile, Mr Liam McKechnie SC, was nominated to become a judge of the High Court. He was educated at Presentation Brothers College, Cork, and attended UCC from 1968 to 1971, graduating with a BCL (Hons) Degree.

He was at the King's Inns from 1969 to 1972 and was called to the Bar in 1972. In 1987, he was called to the Inner Bar.

Mr McKechnie was twice vice-chairman of the Bar Council in 1993 and 1997, and was elected chairman in 1999.

He now serves as a member of the Courts Service Board and the Commission on the Private Rented Residential Sector.